Confronting Climate Change: Haygrove case study

Maximising sustainability: The synergy between SHERPA and CCC

Sustainability in agriculture has become more critical than ever, as farmers and supply chain partners face increasing pressures to address environmental impacts, meet stringent market standards, and adapt to the challenges of climate change. For many businesses, the journey begins with tools like Confronting Climate Change (CCC) and SHERPA – two powerful systems not only supporting the South African agricultural sector but also guiding international clients in their sustainability efforts.

Developed by the South African Fruit and Wine Industry bodies, CCC is a carbon footprinting initiative that enables businesses to measure emissions, identify hotspots, and take action to reduce their environmental impact. Blue North Sustainability manages it on behalf of the industry, ensuring alignment with sector needs and priorities. Meanwhile, SHERPA, developed by Blue North, provides a broader strategic management framework that empowers businesses to integrate sustainability holistically into their operations.

While CCC addresses the specific challenge of carbon footprinting, SHERPA goes further, supporting companies in creating and executing comprehensive sustainability strategies. Together, these tools tackle complementary aspects of sustainability, offering businesses the means to achieve both immediate compliance and long-term resilience.

A common question from farmers and processors is whether they can use only one tool. However, the experiences of companies like Haygrove demonstrate that using both tools in tandem delivers far greater value than relying on one alone. This case study explores how these two tools complement each other and how they’ve helped agricultural leaders achieve measurable sustainability goals. Haygrove, a leading horticultural company, has used both CCC and SHERPA for several years. Their experience highlights the practical benefits of integrating these tools into a sustainability strategy:

Synergy between SHERPA and CCC

While CCC offers detailed and in-depth carbon footprinting, this level of detail is exactly what is required for audits. SHERPA, in comparison, provides a strategic framework that gets Haygrove halfway there. Together, the tools complement each other, helping identify necessary changes across economic, social and environmental aspects.

Enhanced efficiency and time savings with SHERPA

SHERPA enables Haygrove to monitor key metrics on a monthly basis, supporting the annual CCC tool and improving overall productivity. By streamlining processes ahead of audits and reducing reliance on paper-based systems, SHERPA has significantly cut down the time spent compiling data for CCC reports – from a full week to a much more efficient process. This allows the team to focus on more impactful tasks, while maintaining accuracy and compliance.